"Gotcha!" said Ives. Ives was Communications. He had quick eyes, quick
hands. He was huge, almost gross, but graceful. "On the nose," he
grinned, and turned up the volume.
_Beep ... boop ..._
"What else do you expect?" said Johnny. Johnny was the pilot--young,
wide, flat. His movements were as controlled and decisive as those of
the ship itself, in which he had an unshakeable faith. He slid into the
bucket seat before the great master console.
_Beep ... boop ..._
"We expect the ship to do her job," said Hoskins, the Engineer. He was
mild and deft, middle-aged, with a domed head and wide, light-blue eyes
behind old fashioned spectacles. He shared Johnny's belief in the
machine, but through understanding rather than through admiration. "But
it's always good to see her do it."
_Beep ... boop ..._
"Beautiful," said Captain Anderson softly, and he may have been talking
about the way the ship was homing in on the tiny, featureless box that
Survey had dropped on the unexplored planet, or about the planet itself,
or even about the smooth integration of his crew.
_Beep ... boop ..._
Paresi said nothing. He had eyebrows and nostrils as sensitive as a
radarscope, and masked eyes of a luminous black. Faces and motives were
to him what gauges and log-entries were to the Engineer. Paresi was the
Doctor, and he had many a salve and many a splint for invisible ills. He
saw everything and understood much. He leaned against the bulkhead, his
gaze flicking from one to the other of the crew. Occasionally his small
mustache twitched like the antennae of a cat watching a bird.
Barely audible, faint as the blue outline of a distant hill, hungry and
lost as the half-heard cry of a banshee, came the thin sound of high
atmosphere against the ship's hull.
An hour passed.
_Bup-bup-bup-bup ..._
"Shut that damned thing off!"
Ives looked up at the pilot, startled. He turned the gain down to a
whisper. Paresi left the bulkhead and stood behind Johnny. "What's the
matter?" he asked. His voice was feline, too--a sort of purr.
Johnny looked up at him quickly, and grinned. "I can put her down," he
said. "That's what I'm here for. I--like to think maybe I'll get to do
it, that's all. I can't think that with the autopilot blasting out an
'on course'." He punched the veering-jet controls. It served men
perfectly. The ship ignored him, homed on the beam. The ship computed
velocity, altitude, gravity, magnetic polarization, windage; used and
balanced and adjusted for them all. It adjusted for interference from
the manual controls. It served men perfectly. It ignored them utterly.
Johnny turned to look out and downward. Paresi's gaze followed. It was a
beautiful planet, perhaps a shade greener than the blue-green of earth.
It seemed, indefinably, more park-like than wild. It had an air of
controlled lushness and peace.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account